Selling Solutions for the Hard-to-Sell Home

Overcome Home Challenges Standing Between You and a Sale

Nov 18, 2009 Theresa Borsman

Are awkward layouts or a busy intersection turning buyers off? Find out how to overcome home selling problems to sell your home faster.

Having a hard time selling your home? Not all homes are created equal. If your home suffers from a non-standard layout or a lack of bathrooms – or it's located on the corner of a busy intersection – chances are you have a hard-to-sell home.

As hard as it is to hear, hard-to-sell homes typically sell for less and take longer to sell than their non-challenged counterparts. But don't despair. With some simple home improvements that downplay negatives and showcase positives, you can sell your home faster.

Here's a quick list of common home selling problems and solutions...

Hard-to-Sell Home Problem #1: Location Challenges

Is your house situated next to a train track? Perched on the corner of a busy intersection or located near an airport? These factors can slow the sale of your home significantly.

While you can't move your home to a new location, you can make home improvements to sell your home faster. Here are a few easy solutions that can help make your surroundings less noticeable.

Home Selling Solutions:

• Plant high shrubs, trees, or erect high fences to block views of busy roadways or train tracks.
• Reposition children's play sets or lawn furniture to an area of the property with better sightlines, such as a row of neighbouring lawns.
• If noise is an issue, soundproof your home by installing triple-paned windows or soundproofing windows that effectively muffle outside sounds (and don't forget to note your home's increased energy efficiency on your listing). During a showing, turn on air conditioners or soft music to fade out outdoor sounds.
• Make sure you the interior of your home has a wow-factor by preparing to sell your house and staging your home to sell.

Hard-to-Sell Home Problem #2: Funky Odours

Neighbourhood odours caused by pulp mills or sewage plants can be a major turnoff. Let's face it. There's not a lot you can do to ward off odours outside your home. But all is not lost. It just makes it even more important that the inside of your home smells fresh and is immaculately presented.

Home Selling Solutions:

• Plant fragrant trees, flowers, or shrubs along your property (e.g., orange trees or lilac bushes)
• Insulate and weather-proof your home to keep odours from seeping into your home
• Keep windows and doors closed during viewings

Hard-to-Sell Home Problem #3: Awkward Features or Layouts

A lot of older homes have quirky layouts or less-functional layouts than newer builds. Layout challenges include homes with more than four bedrooms and a two- to three-story home with only one bathroom on the main floor. Let's take a look at some ways to address these types of challenges.

Home Selling Solutions:

• Retrofit with modern conveniences as inexpensively as possible. This could involve wiring your home for networking, enlarging the master bathroom, combining bedrooms to create a large master en suite, or shifting around rooms in the interior.
• Get at least two estimates from contractors for making these retrofits. Most buyers tend to overestimate the costs of repairs. If you don't want to do it yourself, you can at least show buyers how little it can cost to make improvements.

Hard-to-Sell Home Problem #4: Bad Neighbours

We've all had them. Neighbours that treat their lawn like a garbage dump or mechanic's shop. Or maybe you are a condo dweller and your neighbour has a pest problem that's migrating over to your unit! So what do you do when problems like these are negatively affecting your open house?

Home Selling Solutions:

• Ask nicely for the behaviour to stop. Some people aren't even aware of the problem. If that doesn't work...
• Offer to pitch in and clean up, or to pay for someone to do it for them. Some people are organizationally challenged and would appreciate a helping hand.
• In the case of pests, if the neighbour won't deal with the problem, offer to pay for an exterminator. If that doesn't work, call the health authority. Most pests are a health hazard, not to mention they'll stop the sale of your home faster than you can say cockroach!

If you're having a hard time selling your home, check to see if you're having one of the above challenges. Hard-to-sell homes do present a number of selling problems. But by making home improvements and pricing your home to sell – you can overcome them to sell your home faster.

The copyright of the article Selling Solutions for the Hard-to-Sell Home in Interior Decorating is owned by Theresa Borsman. Permission to republish Selling Solutions for the Hard-to-Sell Home in print or online must be granted by the author in writing.

Hard to sell homes no more